Roll leaf imprinting machine for leather goods



Nov. 27, 1934. H. GOULD ET AL ROLL LEAF :[NVIPRIIITINGV MACHINE FOR LEATHER GOODS Filed Manin 11, 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig. 1.

Nov. 27, 1934. H. GOULD ET Al.. 1,982,158

ROLL LEAF IMPRINTING MACHINE FOR LEATHER GOODS,

Filed March 11, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 f u l l a u u Patented Nov. 27, 1934 UNITED STATES ROLL LEAF IMPRINTING MACHINE FR- LEATHER GOODS n Herman lGould, Brooklyn, and Frank Ackerman,

Bronx, N. Y.

Application March 11, 1932, Serial No. 598,166

2 Claims.

'I'he present invention relates to imprinting or lettering machines and aims to provide certain improvements therein. More particularly, it relates to machines for roll leaf imprinting on 5 leather goods or the like.

Among the various objects of our invention are the following: To provide a machine of the character described which is simple in construction, facile and efficient in operation, which will. expedite and insure proper alignment, centering and spacing of the lettering upon the article to be imprinted and wherein provision is made for proper tensioning of the roll leaf imprinting ribbon during the imprinting operation.

l According to our present invention we provide a machine of the character described which comprises a table or platen having indicia for properlyA positioning the article upon which the imprinting is to be done, means forv quickly and eiliciently securing said article in place on the platen, means for supporting and tensioning the roll leaf imprinting ribbon, said various means being moveable asa unit with the platen in relation to imprinting means, and a manually controlled mechanism for causing an intermittent movement of -the platen in timed relation to the movements of the imprinting means as the latter is moved in performing the imprinting operation. The invention also contemplates other features of novelty which will be hereinafter more fully described.

A lpreferred embodiment of our invention is shown in thev accompanying drawings, wherein:

' Figure 1 is a side elevation of the machine,.a

part thereof being brokenaway to show certain detain of construction.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the platen and the parts carried thereby.

' Fig. 3 is a section taken substantially along the 40 planes of the line 3 3 on Fig. 1, the platen being omitted.

Fig. 4 is a front elevation of the machine with parts thereof broken away to more clearly show details of construction thereof.

Referring to the drawings, let the reference numeral indicate the base of the machine upon which is mounted the uprights or standards 11 and 12 and the guide walls 13 and 14. The standard 11 at its top is bifurcated to provide arms 11a between which a lever 15 is pivotally supported intermediate its ends by means of cone ended set screws 11b and lock nuts 11e, whereby the lever can be laterally adjusted within said arms/11a. One end 15a of said lever 15 is biased by a spring 16 which isv anchored at one end of a pin 15b and at its other end to a pin" 10a secured to the base of the machine. Adjacent the end 15a, the lever rigidly carries a depending arm 17, the lower end of which is provided with a laterally extending pin 17a, the function for 60 which will presently be made apparent. 'I'he lever 15 at its opposite end is provided with a substantially semi-circular housing 150, within which is mounted upon a suitable shaft 15d an imprinting Wheel 18, a ratchet wheel 19 and a heating disk 65 20, the wheels 18 and 19 being held fast on the shaft 15d and rotatable by a hand wheel 21, whereas the heating disk 20 is loose on said shaft and is held in non-rotatable pressing engagement with the wheel 18 by springs 20a` and screws 20a. 70 For movingthe housing 15c together with the various elements carried thereby downwardly against the tension of the spring 16, there is provided a handle 22 extending upwardly from the top of the housing.

The imprinting wheel 18 is provided around its periphery at equally spaced points with imprinting elements 18a representing the letters of the alphabet, the ordinals and any specific emblems as desired, which elements may be of any desired s0 form and secured to the wheel in any preferred manner. These characters are shown in inverted form in Fig. 4 for in imprinting them upon 'an article, the latter is inserted in inverted relation with respect to the front of the machine. Between the elements 18a there is provided on the periphery of the wheel a second group of reference characters corresponding to those on the elements 18a but located at points remote from the corresponding characters on the elements 18a so that 90 when a character on anelement 18a is at the lowermost point of the imprinting Wheel or at the imprinting position, the corresponding character of the group 18b will be visible in upright position through an opening 15e in the top of the housing 95 15c. .For bringing a desired imprinting' character of the group 18a to imprinting position, the hand y wheel 21 is turned until the desired character of the group 18h becomes visible through the opening 15e. To hold the imprinting wheel in such adjusted position there is provided for cooperation with the ratchet wheel 19 a spring pressed pawl 23 which is pivoted at a point nearer its rear end to the standard 12 and at said rear end is biased by a spring 24 which is anchored to the base 10 so as 105 to resiliently hold a roller 23a which is carried at the forward end of the pawl in engagement with a tooth of the ratchet wheel 19.

The heating disk 20 is held in contact with one face of the imprinting wheel 18 and may be proy be imprinted on said article. Upon the platen 25 is mounted in spaced relation apair of spring clips 26 secured by suitable screws 26a, said clips being adapted to engage over and hold upon the platen the article to be imprinted. Any suitable means such as a strip 27`secured to the top of the Wall 13 may be employed for preventing accidental removal of the platen from its guides and any suitable means may likewise be provided for limiting the extent of movement of the platen in either direction.

Mounted at one e'nd of the platen so as to Ibe carried thereby is a reel supporting frame 28 adapted to receive and hold a roll of imprinting ribbon 29, said frame also having a guide roller 28a under which the ribbon 29a is guided in spaced relation to the top of the platen. At the other end of the platen suitable friction and take-up means for the ribbon are provided upon a bracket 30 secured to the platen and provided with a friction roller 30a and a rubber roller 30h held in engagement with the roller 30a by coil springs 30e. The rollers 30a and 30h hold the free end of the ribbon with a tension which precludes its withdrawal from between said rollers when the central portion of the ribbon is pressed into contact with the imprinting surface by the wheel 18.

Also carried by the bracket 30 is a leaf spring tensioning means 31 and a guide roller 30d.for the ribbon.

Mounted on the under side of the platen 25 is a ratchet bar 32 having teeth 32a and a depending pin 33 to which is connected one end of a coil spring 34, the other end of which is connected to an upstanding pin 35 mounted on the base 10, said spring functioning tobias and urge the platen `toward the right when viewed in Figs. 3 and 4.

For restraining and governing the extent of movement of the platen there is provided a pair of pawls 36 and 37. The pawl 36 is pivotally connected to a bar 38 which in turn is pivoted at 39 to a block 40 mounted on the base 10. In the top of said block 40 are transverse grooves 40a and 40h within which the pawls 36 and 37 are respectively guided, the pawl 37 being normally urged into engagement with the teeth 32a of the ratchet bar by a coil spring 37a, said pawl also having a pin 37b which is held in engagement with the bar 38 by said spring 37a. Normally, the pawls 36 and 37 occupy their respective positions shown in Fig. 3. Pivotally connected to the bar. 38 at the point 38a is one end of a bar 41, the other end of which is provided with an upstanding pin 41a which is normally held in abutting relation to the pin 17a by a spring 42, one end of which is connected to a pin 411i mounted on the under side of the bar 41 and the other end of which is connected to an upstanding pin 43 mounted on the base 10.

\ Operation: -The lever 15 is iirst laterally adjusted by means of the set screws 11b so that the imprinting wheel 18 will be properly aligned with respect to the indicia lines 25h. The article to be imprinted is positioned in approximately centered relation with respect to the zero index beneath the clips 26 on the platen 25, the indicia 25a serving to properly align the article. The platen is then moved to center the lettering to be imprinted on the article in the following manner: The indicia 25h represents spaces corresponding to the imprinting characters, the zerorof said indicia being normally to the left ofthe imprinting wheel when the platen is at its extreme left hand position when viewed from in front of the machine. Hence if the matter to be imprinted comprises ten letters and two spaces the platen will first be moved to the right to bring the sixth space at the right of the zero, directly under the imprinting wheel 18. As said sixth space is also normally to the left of the imprintingrwheel when the platen is at its extreme left hand position said spaces may be brought into proper position by moving the housing 15e downwardly by pressing upon the handle 22 against the tension of the spring 16 whereupon such movement the pin 17a at the lower end of the rod 17 will move to the left as viewed in Fig. 1 and permit the rod 41 under the tension of the spring 42 to move rearwardly. Said movement in turn, in view of the pivotal connection to the bar 38 at the point 39 will withdraw the pawl 3'7 fromengagement with a ratchet tooth due to the engagement of said bar with the pin 37b and cause the pawl 36 to move into a ratchet tooth opposite which it is positioned. While this alternate movement of the pawls is taking place the spring 34 which biases the platen causes the latter to move a distance equal to one-half the pitch of one of the teeth 32a, which pitch is made to correspond to the distance of two of the linear markings of the indicia 25h. The pawl 37 now occupies a position midway between the ratchet tooth from which it has been withdrawn and the next tooth.

to its left; Upon releasing pressure upon the handle 22 the spring 16 returns the housing 15e to its normal position, in the course of which movement the'bar 41 is moved against the tension of the spring 42 to withdraw the pawl 36 from its tooth and simultaneously with the withdrawal of said pawl the spring 37a moves 'the pawl 37 into its next succeeding Vtooth to hold the platen in locked position, during which movement the platen is advanced to the right a distance corresponding to another one-half tooth. In the example given these complete movements are repeated until the article on the platen is properly centered andready for the imprinting operation which is carried out in the following manner: Electrical connection is rst made with the heating disk 20 through the leads 20a. The hand wheel 21 is rotated to bring the proper rst letter into position as viewed through the opening 15e. The imprinting wheel is then pressed downwardly and carries the ribbon 29a into contact with the article to be imprinted and is there held for a few seconds. Upon releasing the pressure on thethe article being imprinted the spring 31 is tensioned and thus permits the "give of the ribbon,

which is returned to its horizontally spaced relation with respect to the platen as soon as the downward pressure thereon is released. When the imprinting operation is completed the article 1s removed from the platen and the spent portion of the imprinting ribbon is withdrawn from the printing field by pulling on the free end of the ribbon which extends through the rolls 30a and 30h. The platen is then returned to its normal position by being pushed to the left,`it being apparent in view of the inclination of the ratchet teeth 32a and the resilient mounting of the pawl 37 that the latter will ride over the ratchet teeth upon the application of such pressure.

While we have shown and described a preferred embodiment of our invention it is to be understood that we do not wish to be limited to the details of construction disclosed, since it will be apparent that the same may be modied without departing from the spirit of the invention.

What we claim is:

1. A roll leaf imprinting machine or the like comprising a base, a platen movable transversely to the base, imprinting means above the platen and movable downwardly in relation thereto, means for moving the platen after each imprinting operation, an imprinting ribbon extending across, carried by and movable with said platen Vso as to present a fresh portion of the ribbon to the imprinting means for each imprinting, said ribbon being disposed in spaced relation over the platen and adapted to be moved downwardly toward the platent when engaged by the imprinting means, and means for tensioning said ribbon to cause it to return to its position in normal spaced relation to the platen asy the imprinting means is removed out of engagement therewith.

2. A roll leaf imprinting machine or ther like comprising a base, a platen movable transversely to the base, imprinting means above the platen and movable downwardly vin relation thereto, means for moving the platen after each imprinting operation, an imprinting ribbon extending across, carried by and movable with said platen so as to present a fresh portion of the ribbon to the imprinting means for each imprinting, said ribbon being disposed in spaced relation over the platen and adapted to be moved downwardly toward the platen when engaged by the imprinting means, said ribbon being supplied from a roll supported at one end of the platen, spring pressed friction rollers supported at the other end of the platen and between which rollers the free end of said ribbon is adapted. to be held, and means for tensioning said ribbon to cause it to return to its position in normal spaced relation to the platen as the imprinting means is removed out of engagement therewith.

HERMAN GOULD. FRANK ACKERMAN. 

